Easy Pressure Cooker Beef and Broccoli Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How much liquid do I need to pressure cook beef? ›

Pour in at least two cups of water; use 1 to 2 cups more if the beef is a tough cut or to reach the minimum amount recommended by the pressure cooker's manufacturer. Seal the lid and bring the cooker up to full pressure over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, maintaining full pressure, and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

The cooking time depends on how much beef you have. I like to assume 20 minutes for every pound of meat. So, for my 3-pound beef chuck, I will need to cook at high pressure for 1 hour. After the hour, I release the pressure and shred the tender beef.

Chuck roast, brisket and short ribs are the best cut because they contain a lot of connective tissue. During both slow & pressure cooking, that connective tissue breaks down and turns into gelatin giving the beef a rich, meaty flavour and a tender, juicy texture.

Traditionally cheaper cuts of meat always slow cook better. Slow cooking breaks down the connective collagen in meat, which turns into unctuous gelatine. This creates that soft and tender mouth feel we all crave.

While you may cover meat almost completely for a conventional braise, use just enough liquid for the cooker to reach pressure – during pressure cooking the meat will release it's own juice and braise in that flavorful liquid, instead.

Overfilling your Instant Pot can affect the pressure that builds up inside, so you might end up with a mushy meal, or one that doesn't cook properly. Also, an overly-full Instant Pot can lead to a clogged pressure release knob, because food and liquid can get sucked up inside.

This completely depends on the type of meat you are planning on cooking. Because slow cookers take longer to cook, they are better suited to breaking down fat in meat while adding moisture. So if you are planning on cooking a whole rump beef, then a slow cooker is a better choice.

For a whole roast: Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes per pound of meat. For small chunks: Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes per pound of meat.

Brown it

Pressure cooked food doesn't brown so it's worth doing this at the start of cooking before adding liquid and putting the lid on. Meat looks and tastes more appetising with a little browning. Onions, garlic and spices also benefit in the flavour stakes from pre-cooking.

Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat.

Can you put raw beef in a pressure cooker? ›

Add in trivet and place frozen or fresh ground meat directly on trivet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired. Put the lid on the Pressure Cooker and turn valve to seal. Set to High Pressure for 20 minutes if frozen, 6 minutes if fresh.

To prevent a chewy beef steak, you need to avoid using too much high-pressure heat. Of course, start with pressure cooking your roast (that's why you're using the Instant Pot anyway), but keep that high-pressured phase to a few minutes only.

Steam penetrates food easily under pressure. So connective tissues in cubes of beef for soups or stews soften in 15 minutes or less, and a pot roast will be medium-rare in 30 minutes.

More than anything, you will dry out your roast if you cook it for too long. Most of the beef flavor will run out into the sauce.

The tightly sealed cooker creates a high-pressure environment that quickly and efficiently steams whatever is inside of it at an extra-high heat. This technique also forces moisture into the food quickly.

If you cut your roast into smaller chunks: Cook on high pressure with the minimum amount of water (1-1.5 cups) required for 15 minutes per pound of meat (450 grams). Optional: Pre-heat oil in your pot on saute mode, and use your favourite dry rub or marinade on the beef.

It can seem like a catch-22 — you need liquid to get your pressure cooker to work, but too much will make your meat taste blah. Luckily, there's an easy rule of thumb to keep in mind to make sure you don't overwhelm your roasts. For a pressure cooker to come to pressure, it needs 1 cup of liquid, no more, no less.

Answer: 106.28

The Los Angeles Times published an interactive infographic on April 6 showing how much water it takes to prepare an ounce of various food products.

Add about 1/4 Cup Liquid Per Pound of Pork

Aromatics aside, the actual liquid you put in the crock pot is what will flavor the pork the most.